Doctor Who: Radio Free Skaro

Katrina was back in the fold again this week (replacing Warren, who’s busy blogging in Banff this week), with the main focus of the Three Who Rule being to provide comments on Series 1 episode “The Long Game”. The trio never once went more than ten minutes without discussing the episode at hand – a new record? Along the way, various bits of news were covered, including the explosion of fandom (aka the closing of Doctor Who Forum at Outpost Gallifrey), the shrapnel of which, it was determined, landed well short of affecting your intrepid hosts.

Steven, one mighty pillar of the tripod that is the Three Who Rule, doesn’t often succumb to the base emotions. Indeed, compared to the gutter-dwelling antics of Pedantor and the frankly borderline illegal conduct of Warren, Steven’s unflappable facade is nigh-invulnerable. But when the fate of Pete Tyler in “Father’s Day” comes into play, all propriety goes out the window. Tune in and hear his descent into madness…if you dare.

It’s not often that the Three Who Rule spend more than a minute dismissing Torchwood out of hand, much less being interested in a new series of everyone’s tolerated younger, ganglier cousin to Doctor Who. But that strange event is precisely what happened (explained away with string theory and many a complicated equation, most likely), along with some pre Comic Con banter and oh yes, a commentary on The Empty Child.

With only Torchwood news to bandy about, the second part of Steven Moffat’s epic two-parter from Season 1 took center stage for this episode for a shorthanded RFS staff as they discussed the intricacies of one of the first series’ masterpieces while simultaneously avoiding any actual discussion of the episode at hand, as per usual.

With only Torchwood news to bandy about, the second part of Steven Moffat’s epic two-parter from Season 1 took center stage for this episode for a shorthanded RFS staff as they discussed the intricacies of one of the first series’ masterpieces while simultaneously avoiding any actual discussion of the episode at hand, as per usual.

Things took a turn for both the obscene and obsequious and Pedantor proved he could crawl even lower into the gutter he calls home and Warren was bested by Cracklor, a skypeovore that feasts on distorted, craptacular VOIP. Oh, and somewhere in this menagerie of madness the sometimes forgotten but certainly notable “Boom Town” was commented on by the Three Who Rule.

In a stunning, nay flabbergasting turn of events, the Torchwood: Children of Earth miniseries turned out to be not only a fantastic five days of entertainment but possibly one of the best things on television thus far this year. A special 4 person quorum of the RFS council was called to deal with this turn of events, with special Torchwood representative Katrina joining the fun. But that’s not all! The Three Who Rule Plus One also threw in a “Bad Wolf” commentary…but of course such good fortune meant the beast Cracklor also paid a visit. Still, an epic-length RFS for an epic entry in the Doctor Who canon.

In a noteworthy Wednesday cutaway, Radio Free Skaro enlisted the help of some of our LGBT listeners to hold a discussion on the recent uproar about Torchwood: Children of Earth (about which there will be spoilers!) and the perceived homophobia many in the fandom community say it presented. Many thanks go to our own Katrina who leads the panel with listeners Erik and Nat in delivering an hour of informed discussion about this fandom reaction.

An exciting landmark in RFS history, as the Three Who Rule celebrate their Sasquatchicentennial, otherwise known as the 150th episode of their half-crazed (yet still consistently jaunty) blatherings. And what better way to mark the occasion than “The Parting of the Ways,” Eccleston’s final episode as the good Doctor and one of the many highlights of the 2005 return of the series. News, digressions and a visit from one of the Internet’s most pervasive memes round out this most 150-th of episodes. Play him off, keyboard cat!

In what has to be the most overwhelming of all weeks for Doctor Who in all recorded history, the RFS crew slogged mightily through tales of Comic Con, rumours confirmed, others dashed, and in the midst of our recording the release of a new trailer for “The Waters of Mars.” And that was BEFORE we got around commentating on “Planet of the Dead”, making this if not the longest Radio Free Skaro ever than certainly the densest, and not just because of PotD’s plodding, pedestrian poltroonery.

The Three Who Rule come off last week’s plethora of news with but a handful of offerings this time around. Turning lemons into lemonade they parry and thrust their way through another hearty podcast for your aural pleasure. From the return of Spoilor to thoughts on the return of Tom Baker to the role of The Doctor, grab your foil and join the fray.

The Three Who Rule covered the gamut of Whoish happenings this week, from the shocking revelation that Meglos will return for David Tennant’s finale (unconfirmed) to Ian Levine’s rather tenuous grasp on the the fundamental underpinnings of the internet (hint: don’t fear the link.) And amongst this madness was revealed the Miniscope, a new weekly feature examining a writer, producer or other behind the scenes chieftain whose drive and talent brought us the Classic Who episodes we love so dearly. Up first is Robert Holmes, or at the very least his contribution to the ouvres of Mr. Troughton and Mr. Pertwee. Enjoy, dear listeners.

Many a broadcasting intrigue formed the backbone of Whoish news this week, from BBC America’s machinations to…BBC Wordwide’s transgressions. The Three Who Rule also engaged in Socratic debate over the claims of Rona Munro, the scribe behind “Survival”, that romance in nuWho constitutes lazy writing. All that and another exciting Miniscope examining the glory years of one Robert Holmes as he ascended to script writer and Doctor Who demigod.

In an episode of threes, the Three Who Rule discuss the first of three filler Doctor Who clip shows (”Doctor Who: Greatest Moments”), Series Three of the Sarah Jane Adventures, upcoming DVD releases featuring Doctor No. 3, Jon Pertwee, and last but not least, the third and final installment of the Miniscope segment featuring Robert Holmes. Next week’s Miniscope topic was also determined via the Randomizer…but you’ll have to listen to the show to find out who it is! (Hint: it’s not Pennant Roberts.)

The Three Who Rule were in fine fettle this week, if fettle is judged by ability to digress and avoid the topic at hand. Through discussion that veered into subjects as strange as podcestuous panels in Derby, the horror of a rebroadcast of Dimensions in Time and the continued demonstration of Warren’s complete lack of a short-term memory, the trio ambled towards the Miniscope and Douglas Adams’ short but memorable tenure as Doctor Who script editor.

The classic series commentary makes a not-so-triumphant return to the Radio Free Skaro fold as we merge the Miniscope with the old time-filling standby. With Johnny Byrne as our subject we plod through the week’s weak news with discussion of lowlights such as Warriors of the Deep and our commentary of the first half of Arc of Infinity. There should have been another way, indeed!

With news sorely lacking, the Three Who Rule were momentarily relieved to hide in the welcome shelter of a commentary, in this case the third and fourth instalments of “Arc of Infinity”, a maudlin yarn notable more for IKEA furniture infesting Gallifrey than for an interesting story. But their welcome was short lived, as Cracklor once again besieged Warren and his computer more or less opted for suicide….much like Omega, as his Rice Krispie wounds boiled into nothingness. Poignancy ahead, dear listeners. Sheer poignancy.

With the Doctor Who Magazine release of the ming-mongiest list of favorite Doctor Who episodes in the past 11 years (when a nuWho-less but also ming-mongy list sparked debate amongst the faithful), the Three Who Rule were like starving, nerdy dogs drawn to raw meat. Weighing in on their own picks and what they felt was wrong-headed and frankly evil placement of some of their favorite episodes, they also made time to speculate on the scheduling of Dreamland, the Waters of Mars and to roundly chastise Richard Curtis for not getting his Doctor Who air dates right. And oh yes, a Miniscope featuring Pennant Roberts also made an appearance, flood-lit and underbudgeted. Hoo…ray.

This week’s Miniscope saw an appearance by Chris Boucher, best known not only for his scripts for Robots of Death, The Face of Evil and Image of the Fendahl, but also for writing for Blake’s 7 (acting as script editor for the show from 1978 to 1981) and Star Cops and….his segment consisted of six minutes. The remaining time was filled with the trademarked digressionary banter known and tolerated by RFS fandom, ranging from a list of Gallifrey 2010’s many exciting panels to the strange character known as “Itchy Spider-man.”

Rumours, rumours and more rumours were grist for the RFS mill this week, as the Three Who Rule speculated on a new, possibly leaked list of Season 5/1/31 writers (and confirmed one or two writers (Chris Chibnall) and directors (Ashley Way, Andrew Gunn) along the way), watching Phil (friend of the show) Ford’s reactions to watching Dreamland (very meta) and DVD speculation run amok. All this and a Fiona Cumming Miniscope.

A new logo, new location pics, and confirmation that the BBC is indeed going along with the madness of referring to Matt Smith’s junior outing as the Doctor as “Series 1.” The Three Who Rule also engaged in a spirited discussion about the possibility of an international iPlayer, as well as devoted the ever-popular Miniscope to the work of David Maloney, one of Doctor Who’s finest visualists and a gentleman director to spare. Allons-y!

The Doctor Who world lost one of its indisputable titans on October 9, 2009, when Barry Letts passed away at the age of 84. Letts was a director, writer, executive producer, and, most notably, producer of Doctor Who from 1970-1974. He was also one of the greatest ambassadors that the programme has ever known. In this episode, actor/comedian and noted fan and unofficial historian of Doctor Who, Toby Hadoke, was kind enough to join us to help us celebrate the legacy of the great Barry Letts.

With Warren on holiday in Japan and China, Katrina joins the fray (see what we did there?) as the Radio Free Skaro gang discusses more about the Doctor Who Magazine ranking poll, a mass of DVD news as well as the premiere story of the new Sarah Jane Adventures series and more. Was Sarah Jane worthwhile viewing? Will Doctor Who fandom become collective paupers from the deluge of early 2010 DVD releases? Will Chris Clough get the tongue lashing so many think he deserves in this week’s Miniscope? Delve into this week’s gripping episode to find out!

Warren is still trundling around Asia so in his absence the remaining Two Who Rule invited along Luke from The Minute Doctor Who Podcast to join in the frivolity. Some good news (Doctor Who confirmed for Christmas and a Children in Need Preview of Tennant’s penultimate episode) was discussed as was some bad news (various bits of DVD-related disappointments) whilst opinions were split down the middle on the latest installment of The Sarah Jane Adventures (quite a tough thing to do with an odd number of participants). David Whitaker gets quite the workout in the miniscope, complete with a Vampire/Halloween tie-in, and Steven finally commits to an appearance on Luke’s Doctor Who-based Mastermind quiz!

Warren is finally back from Japan and China so the Three Who Rule were once again united. Doctor Who spinoffs were the order of the day as The Sarah Jane Adventures featured the first signs of The Doctor since Easter and K9 got a preview on British TV but everything is trumped by the announcement of The Waters of Mars’ release date. The drought is soon over and we have but two weeks to wait for the gap year to wind down. Peter Moffatt is looked at in the miniscope, Dreamland will be getting a preview in short order and surprise surprise there’s DVD news and more all in this episode where we actually keep to time!

With just a week to go before the UK premiere of the next Doctor Who special, The Waters of Mars, RFS’s own Steven sat down with the co-writer of the special, Phil Ford, to talk about the episode in an exclusive, in-depth interview that also covered Phil’s work on The Sarah Jane Adventures and Dreamland. Before that, the Three Who Rule do their best to plow through what was a busy news week in the world of Who.

After seven long months, Doctor Who returned to the airwaves in high style with “The Waters of Mars,” a topper of a story and one heck of a lead-in to the Doctor’s imminent demise and resurrection. The Three Who Rule were effusive in their praise of The Waters of Mars, though somewhat less so when the conversation came to the latest episodes of the Sarah Jane Adventures, which Chris (also known as “Curmudge-or”) succinctly labeled as “poop”. The trio even discussed how Steven somehow managed to get onto UK radio last week and participate in a conference call with David Tennant. Intellectual banter and relentless name-dropping ahoy!

To commemorate the 46th anniversary of the debut of Doctor Who, The Three Who Rule felt it only fitting to invite fellow podcasting super-giant Ken Deep of Doctor Who: Podshock onto the show to not only discuss the news and events of the past week in the world of Who, but to wax on about how they became fans of the show, why they are all still fans, and how they all manage to spend a fair amount of time each week talking about what we, and no doubt you, think is the greatest TV programme ever invented – Doctor Who. We hope you enjoy this unique celebration.

After an eventful few weeks of New Who and rampant podcest, the Three Who Rule (reduced to Two Who Adjudicate for this episode) settled down to news, shenanigans, and rampant avoiding of anything that could possibly be construed as a spoiler. But hope and glory came in the form of Malcolm Clarke, the first musician to grace the Miniscope (yes, it’s back, at least temporarily) and an underrated craftsman in the world of Classic Who. Synthesizers from 1972 and marching Cyberman themes ahoy!

With the Three Who Rule reunited once more, and with the analytic powers of the Third Guy squarely aimed at schedules, Appreciation Indexes and other such numeric minutiae, a slow news week was transformed into quasi-random babble and buildup to the exciting segment you’ve all been waiting for….Douglas Camfield in the Miniscope. Praise for Camfield’s prodigious output was universal if varying in intensity, but all three hosts agreed the man was a force for good (for the show) and bad (for Dudley Simpson’s career.)

The surest sign of an impending deluge of press reports is upon The Three Who Rule — a slow news week, aka the calm before the storm. In what seems fitting for an audio podcast, most of the points of discussion involve audio work including a look at the recently transmitted “Shelved” which notes the reasons behind the cancellation of Shada (among other shows). Graeme Harper — only the second subject not to be chosen randomly — gets his turn in the Miniscope. Much well-earned fawning occurs over Harper’s Doctor Who ouevre along with lamentations over knowing Harper isn’t involved in Series 5/1/31.

With TV viewers in Canada and the US now caught up with the rest of the world regarding The Waters of Mars, the time was right for the Radio Free Skaro team to provide a running commentary on the recent masterpiece bestowed upon us by Graeme Harper, Russell T Davies, and (friend of the show) Phil Ford. Main points of discussion during the commentary were the unparalleled acting skills of David Tennant, the talents of directorial master Graeme Harper, and why it’s so difficult to find a timepiece that accurately measures rels.

So it’s come to this. More than a year after David Tennant announced he was leaving the role of the Doctor, through endless speculation, theorizing and fanwank, we’ve finally reached the Tenth Doctor’s penultimate adventure, and….the results are not good. In fact, they’re disastrous. The Three Who Rule were moved to anger, bile, and sadness at Russell T. Davies’ constant and unnecessary need to outdo himself, at The Master’s penchant for leaping and lightning, exacerbated by the fact that all three of your august hosts were in the same room at the same time. In fact, there may have been a monkey knife fight, you’ll just have to listen to find out. Allons-sigh.

It’s the End of Time and the end of an era, and the Three Who Rule were all over the map in their praise and derision of David Tennant and RTD’s swan song. One thing they all did agree on was their palpable excitement over Matt Smith’s new Doctor and Steven Moffat’s upcoming stewardship of Doctor Who, and that it’ll be a long few months indeed before Spring 2010. Geronimo!

One mini-break in the wilderness is over for Doctor Who and it’s time to look at the gap year that was as we head into the next wilderness mini-break, awaiting Matt Smith’s first series. To aid in the retrospective the Three Who Rule dragged Tachyon TV’s own Neil Perryman kicking and screaming into the (virtual) recording booth, Vinvocci style. More bile was flung about than a monkey can fling poop, though kudos were given where appropriate… but do we ever want to see a gap year again?

The retrospectives continue on Radio Free Skaro with The Three Who Rule again joined by TachyonTV’s Neil Perryman… though this week the world got flipped, turned upside down as the unthinkable happened: An episode dedicated to praising the work of Russell T Davies! Curmudgeor was not best pleased at the prospect and had to be subdued, but in the end the lads had a bit of a love-in for our favourite (read: only) NuWho show runner. Come share the warm fuzzies!

In a move that could be precipitated only by Slownewsweekor, the Three Who Rule relied upon Torchwood discussion to fuel the latest Radio Free Skaro episode. The news of Torchwood maybe coming to America hit like a ton of bricks and startled much of the Doctor Who world, causing panic and looting; there may or may not have been talk of small children getting crushed underfoot as a result.

The news of a Doctor Who movie sent The Three Who Rule so far past the point of bile they circled back around to apathy, but not without taking a few hostages along the way. In a slow news week to end all slow news weeks, digression and hatred were employed like plow horses in an effort to simply fill time. Steven points the gun of spite squarely in a new direction, Warren wastes no time in slagging off other Sci Fi TV shows and Chris even sings a few bars… it’s just that kind of episode.

It had to happen sooner or later, so the Three Who Rule ripped the bandage off by recording a commentary for The End of Time Part One, that neo-classic from Christmas 2009 containing such classic Who elements as magic potions, laser hands, randy senior citizens and Smell-O-Vision. Did the episode fare better this time round after the scolding it received in Radio Free Skaro 174? You decide. Also discussed was news of Gaiman, gay men, and gained men, er, companions. Onwards!

The Three Who Rule created their own news this week by dropping a small bombshell into the world of Doctor Who fandom by being the first to reveal official BBC details of the upcoming Series Fnarg. Once that was coyly dealt with, and after a dark, sinister, and negative experience watching The End of Time Part One last week, the Three Who Rule were in finer spirits for their second outing in Finale-Stan, the catchily-titled “The End of Time Part Two”. Between Chris’s endless (no really, they just wouldn’t end) gags about slash writers and the occasionally engaging spectacle onscreen, your erstwhile hosts proved to be much more affable on this leg of the excursion, and bile was replaced by hope and optimism as Matt Smith crashed onto our screens and into our coal-black, ginger-hating hearts. Geronimo.

With mere days to go before Gallifrey 2010 in Los Angeles, the Three Who Rule took it upon themselves to conduct their now-annual rundown of the panels, guests, goings-on and shenanigans sure to occur, all in the name of informing our dear listeners how often we’ll be hung over (answer: often.) Stay tuned all this week for daily podcasts, special guests and the most fun you can legally have involving Doctor Who and cast of thousands (well, a thousand and change.) Not all was silent from The Beeb this week, however, as the start date for Series Fnarg has been announced for April 3 on BBC One, hot on the heels of the new trailer for Matt Smith’s debut run.

Radio Free Skaro attended the Gallifrey One convention in Los Angeles this past weekend and managed to crank out five podcasts crammed with interviews, insight, and whimsy. Here's some brief descriptions of each episode with clickable links:

A post-Gally funk has set in for the Three Who Rule, but they soldiered on regardless, bringing you the news of the week and the irreverence you know and tolerate. Not that there was much news of course, but this week is only a precursor to the inevitable flood of pre-Fnarg promotion and pimpery sure to come, not to mention the premiere of an entirely new era of Doctor Who in mere weeks. Soon, my pretties, soon.

Series Fnarg – check that, Series Five – premiere news was the order of the day as the UK, US and Australia have all announced details about their respective launches while Canada sits in the background taking notes. From the bus to the cinema to conventions to the web, all the bases are covered as the BBC prepares to launch the new series of Doctor Who. Thankfully the banter gets broken up by the usual raft of fictitious awards and fictitious polls otherwise we could go on and on about global distribution of Doctor Who… and really, who needs that?

Rampant speculation was the order of the day for the Three Who Rule, as a spate of trailers got the thinkin’ (and other) juices flowing. New footage! A Dalek! A Cyberman! Several…other things! And 13 days to go before a new Doctor, a new companion, and a new season debut in the UK. All this and a smattering of news, some pedanting, and ribald statements.

The new series of Doctor Who is less than a week away and with the question of Matt Smith still largely unanswered, the Three Who Rule were glad of the first proper clips from the new series so as to get a feel for the character. Add to the mix yet another new trailer as well as an extended interview with Matt Smith by Jonathan Ross, talk of the new TARDIS design on Doctor Who Confidential and descriptions for future episodes before we’ve even seen the first one and the bottom line is excitement! The Miniscope even makes a one-off return, focused squarely at the Who oeuvre, or Whoeuvre if you will, of new show runner Steven Moffat.

The Three Who Rule were joined by Neil from Hartlepool (and Tachyon TV, tangentially) to celebrate the return of Doctor Who to our screens and to fete the debut of Karen Gillan, Matt Smith, and showrunner Steven Moffat in their respective roles of awesome, awesomer and awesomest. There was much discussion of “The Eleventh Hour,” which other than an atrocious new theme tune (and lack of a McCoy era sex wink) was deemed near perfect. All that and news, tomfoolery and a very strange extra feature on the upcoming Planet of Fire DVD round out this episode of RFS. Geronimo.

Another strong week for new Who as “The Beast Below” solidified the love of the Three Who Rule for Matt Smith, otherwise known as “the new kid we think will work out just fine.” Add a potent mix of thrilling stats, fictitious awards, and rare praise for Torchwood, and you’ve got a podcast, by gar!

The Daleks are back! And that’s…..well, middling. The Three Who Rule chewed over “Victory of the Daleks,” including the new, sleek models that have all of fandom agog with either love or hate, the WW2 models that instantly warmed our coal-black hearts, and the jowly presence of one Winston Churchill, saviour of Britain. Still, it’s thankfully no “Daleks in Manhattan”. Geronim-ate!

A rare occasion for Radio Free Skaro this week in that all three hosts were unanimous in their praise of The Time of Angels, one of the true high points in recent Doctor Who history that not even a slightly reduced duration or an animated Graham Norton could spoil. On top of this, the usual cadre of ratings discussions, all of which is also universally positive on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as general blathering about the week that was in Who. Oh, and did everyone remember to watch Over The Rainbow after Doctor Who?

The Two Who Rule (Chris was consumed by a Weeping Angel and sent back in time to 1973) were effusive in their praise of one of the best episodes not only of this season but of Doctor Who’s storied history, lauding both Matt Smith for his great performance and Steven Moffat for one of the scariest episodes in recent memory. Without Chris, the Two Who Rule were unable to effectively slag RTD (though they tried) or dismiss David Tennant’s contributions to the program (perish the thought!) though they did their best to not slip into a coma while discussing ratings. Allons-onimo!

Vampires! Venice! Fish people! Disagreement! While two of the Three Who Rule were less than blown away by the latest historical romp, “The Vampires of Venice”, with little else to discuss during this slow news week it was that or stats. Which were also discussed. Harrumph.

Given the mixed reactions that The Three Who Rule have had about past attempts of surrealism in Doctor Who, one wouldn’t expect the latest noodle-scratcher to be an episode for them to agree on. But that’s just what “Amy’s Choice” was, a daring and bold step into a world of dreams featuring pregnant Amys, awkward Doctors, and rampant elder abuse. Really, what’s not to love? And there wasn’t even one hint of The Valeyard making a return appearance. Or was there….?